An afternoon and evening of future thinking music and performance from Wales and beyond, with a focus on feminism, gender and identity.

Highlights include the visual spectacle of feverish cake-fetishist Lone Taxidermist, feminist dance-punk band Charismatic Megafauna and a full live AV show from producer Kayla Painter. Plus Welsh/Dutch electronic producer Accü, folkish trio Adwaith and the bearded bellydancing of Shrouk El Attar’s Dancing Queer.

We are proud to present WITCIH Salon, showcasing women working in creative tech. WITCIH’s aim is to educate and inspire and will be hosted by the sitar shredding, vocal looping Bishi Bhattacharya. Feat. composer Jenn Kirby and noise artist Miriam Khartoum aka Miri Kat. 15:00-17.30

More Baby In My Monitors Please: Free discussion about being a musician and parent with the aim of demystifying and normalising the role of artist-mothers in music. With Emma Daman Thomas (Islet) and Lisa Jên Brown (9 Bach), hosted by Gwenno Saunders. 14:00-15:00

ACCÜ

Accü is Netherlands born musician and recording artist Angharad van Rijswijk. The half Welsh half Dutch songwriter moved to rural Carmarthenshire, Wales as a child and went on to write in both English and Welsh with her music.

Also known for her collaborations with writer and comedian Stewart Lee, the duo Cornershop and Richard James, she was also one half of the duo Trwbador. Following the bands split, she chose the alias Accǜ, meaning 'accumulator' in Dutch, which reflects how she approaches and collects her work lyrically, visually and sonically.

She performs with a backing band using her samples, vocal looping and analogue synths.

Adwaith

Gwenllian, Hollie and Heledd describe themselves as a post–folk, post-punk band from Carmarthen, singing in English and Welsh. They have songs with titles such as as Femme and Lipstick Coch (Red Lipstick), and what it takes to start their own female focussed 'Femme', club night. We're all for it.

Bishi

Musician, artist, multimedia performer and curator, Bishi Bhattacharya was born in London of Bengali heritage. Bishi received musical training in both Hindustani and Western Classical styles, including study of the sitar under Gaurav Mazumdar, a senior disciple of Ravi Shankar. She has recorded two albums , with long time collaborator Matthew Hardern: Albion Voice and Nights at The Circus. Her live performances explore looping, interactive multimedia and video projection.

A wide range of musical collaborators have included Boy George, Patrick Wolf and the late Labour MP Tony Benn.

Bishi has co-founded WITCiH: The Women in Technology Creative Industries Hub, an umbrella to celebrate Women at The Intersection of The Arts & STEM. WITCiH is an online and real world platform for re- search, creation, performance and networking. WITCiH aims to explore & expand our knowledge of women in tech, past, present & future. We are proud to present the first ever Witcih Salon outside London here at The Future Is Female (more info).

Charismatic Megafauna

Comprising of artist Jenny Moore, designer Georgia Twigg and writer Susannah Worth, Charismatic Megafauna is a three-piece, feminist, party punk band born from a need to rage and dance. They use drums, synth, drum pads and voices in their performances and use the breakdown of words and the build-up of rhythms to make worlds. Hit songs like Guys in Spandex, Ejaculate, Theresa May Not and Hole have been shouted in fields, studios, bars, homes, warehouses, museums and basements since 2014.

Following the February 2017 launch of their EP Maxi Brief, recorded live at Tate Modern for Bedfellows, they have played at the Victoria in Dalston, Metaphonica at Central Saint Martins, Sound Acts festival in Athens, the Bird’s Nest in Deptford, and Edge Effects at the Centre for Contemporary Art in Glasgow.

Jenn Kirby

*PERFORMING AS PART OF WITCIH SALON*

Jenn Kirby is an Irish composer, based in Swansea, Wales. She composes both acoustic and electronic contemporary works. Her work explores elements of theatricality, humour and the manipulation of the perception of time. Her work has been performed in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Austria, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Poland, Canada, the United States and Mexico.

Jenn performing with Gruff Rhys and Roger Paez's Breaking at From Now On 2017

Phonetics by Jenn Kirby

Kayla Painter

*Full live AV show*

Practising in the more academic reaches of sound design, Kayla Painter is a composer, producer and sound design artist. If you caught her set at Simple Things Festival 2016 or her debut at Glastonbury you will no doubt have witnessed her unusual array of audio samples adopting field recordings as an intrinsic part of her live performance and recorded works. As a Masters graduate and a multi disciplinary artist Kayla’s works are part evolutionary, part exploratory with various media such as stop motion animation, installation, and film.

Currently championed by Mary Anne Hobbs, Kayla has spent two years as a lecturer at the University of South Wales, lecturing in the philosophy and political economy of music, as well as creative product development and research. She is currently the Course Leader of Songwriting at The British and Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM), and has recently been awarded her Masters in Music (Mmus) from Bath Spa University.

More Baby In My Monitors Please

2-3pm, Peilot

Discussion about being a musician and parent with the aim of demystifying and normalising the role of artist-mothers in music. With Emma Daman Thomas (Islet) and Lisa Jên Brown (9 Bach), hosted by Gwenno Saunders, aka Gwenno.

What’s it like to tour with morning sickness? How can you heat porridge in Travelodge room? Will I ever write a song again? We attempt to answer these questions and more.

Free, all welcome.

Lone Taxidermist

Lone Taxidermist, the chaotic project of cosmic Cumbrian synth artist Natalie Sharp will be a stupefying live experience. On her new project Trifle she's joined by Philip Winter (Wrangler/ Tunng) and Will Kwerk for a journey into the murky, intertwined depths of sexual food fetishes, Amsr and foley artistry. The live show features music from the group's debut album of the same name, and explores the shadowy worlds of sploshing, cake sitting and crush fetish. It features a visual backdrop from a series of YouTube cake fetishists, and AV artist Ross Blake's specially commissioned projections.

Silver Stairs of Ketchikan

Silver Stairs of Ketchikan is the solo project of Charlie from Thought Forms. With echoing guitars, drones and shimmering washes of sound, she builds from meditative sonic landscapes to intense bursts of noise. New album coming 2017.

Shrouk El Attar: Dancing Queer

What's that? Belly dancers should have long hair and shave their legs and underarms? Well, not this one! Originally from the capital of Belly Dancing, Egypt, the hairy, bearded, pierced and tattooed queer dancer will give you a traditional performance with a twist.

"Although I don't believe that neither I, nor anyone, needs to provide a reason to dance: I dance because where I come from being a belly dancer is considered to be shameful. I dance to break a stereotype of what a belly dancer "should look like". I dance because it connects me to my roots and culture. I dance because it makes me happy. But perhaps most importantly, I dance as a form of protest against the treatment of my LGBT+ siblings persecuted around the world just for being who they are. " Shrouk El Attar

Witcih - Women In Technology Creative Industries Hub

15:00 - 17:30 Theatre

We are proud to present the first ever WITCiH Salon in Wales as part of The Future Is Female. Hosted by Bishi, WITCiH Salon showcases a collective of female producers, performers & composers all working with a highly idiosyncratic & inventive approach to creative tech. More details on the featured artists to come soon.

WITCiH: Women In Technology Creative industries Hub

Founded by interdisciplinary audio-visual musicians/artists/ performers Bishi and Matthew Hardern AKA Glamorre, WITCiH is an online and real world platform for research, creation, performance and networking.

It is The WITCiH mission to educate & inspire the women the world over through an understanding of the history of Women in Tech.